Upholstery supports



g- 1, 1957 c. DAMIANO 3,333,841

1 UPHOLSTERY SUPPORTS Filed March 28, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 41 C; D EFig.2.

\\ B INVENTQQ CHmuas DAM/4M0 I BY ATTORNEYS Aug. 1, 1967 c. DAMIANO3,333,841

UPHOLSTERY SUPPORTS Filed March 28, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 l/vvslv'rokDAM IAN 0 v Arron/vex;

Aug. 1, 1967 c. DAMIANO UPHOLSTERY SUPPORTS 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March28, 1966 Fig.7

/NVENTO/Z Aug. 1, 1967 c. DAMIANO UPHOLS'I'ERY SUPPORTS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4Filed March 28, 1966 IN VENTOR CH HYLES DEM/Mo ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent 3,333,841 UPHOLSTERY SUPPORTS Charles Damiano, London, England,assignor to Pirelli Limited, London, England, a company of Great BritainFiled Mar. 28, 1966, Ser. No. 537,846

Claims priority, application Great Britain, Apr. 9, 1965,

5 Claims. (Cl. 267-111) This invention is for improvements in orrelating to articles of furniture which include upholstery supports andto a method of mounting such supports upon said articles so as to bereadily removable.

Upholstery supports which are manufactured in the form of sheets orplatforms have become well known articles of commerce and the uses ofthem are becoming more widespread. In the furniture industry (and thisis used in its more colloquial sense to indicate the industry whichmakes chairs, tables, beds and the like as well as in the wider sensewhich embraces the industry which makes furniture for use in land, seaand air vehicles) there is a requirement for the upholstery support tohave four points at which said support can be removably attached to theseat frame for example.

There are numerous ways of doing this. However, any means of attachmentmust be cheap, easy to incorporate in a seat frame or in a frame of anyother article of furniture and/or in an upholstery support and must alsobe such as will make-the upholstery support simple for those to handlewho have to assemble furniture, for example seats.

The object of the present invention is to provide an upholstery supportwhich is adapted to be removably attached to the frame of an article offurniture at a number of points which may 'be four in number or more orless than four in number and which support will be an eflicie'nt andeconomic alternative to those upholstery supports which already exist.

Accordingly, from a first aspect, the present invention consists in anarticle of furniture which includes two frame elements in each of whichthere is formed a passageway, said passageways being in axial alignmentwith one another and being adapted to accommodate end portions of alength of rod or wire of which a central or intermediate portion isexposed for the purpose of providing an anchorage for an upholsterysupport.

Preferably, said frame elements are separately made (from wood forexample) and are securely joined to one another (for example with aglue). Alternatively, said frame elements are integral with and are notreadily separable one from another (for example two portions of a lengthof metal tubing as used for seat frames in the motor vehicle industry).

From a second aspect, the present invention consists in a method ofmounting an upholstery support upon an article of furniture, whichmethod includes the following steps, namely, forming passageways inframe elements of an article of furniture; inserting a length of rod orwire in two axially aligned passageways in such a manner as toaccommodate one end portion of said rod or wire in each passageway andas to leave a central or intermediate portion exposed for the purpose ofproviding an anchorage for an upholstery support.

In a preferred embodiment said passageways are formed in frame elementswhich are integral with and are not readily separable from one another.

In an alternative embodiment, said passageways are formed in frameelements which are separate from one another, said frame elements beingthereafter brought together to form a frame or a part of a frame.

In a further alternative embodiment said passageways 3,333,841 PatentedAug. 1, 1967 are formed in frame elements which are made separately andare joined securely to one another before the passageways are formedtherein.

The present invention will now be more particularly described withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates in plan one corner of a seat frame upon which anupholstery support has been mounted, in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIGURE 2 illustrates a section on the line HII in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 illustrates in plan one corner of a seat frame upon which anupholstery support has been mounted, in accordance with an alternativeembodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 4 illustrates a section on the line IVIV in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 illustrates in plan one corner of a seat frame upon which anupholstery support has been mounted, in accordance with anotheralternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 6 illustrates a section on the line VI-VI in FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 illustrates in plan one corner of .a seat frame upon which anupholstery support has been mounted, in accordance with a furtheralternative embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGURE 8 illustrates one advantage obtainable from the employment of atleast the embodiments of FIGURES 3 to 6.

Referring to FIGURES 1 and 2, there are illustrated two frame elements Aof a seat frame of an article of furniture. According to the preferredembodiment, when the frame has been built, said frame elements aredrilled at an angle of 45 in such a manner as to provide a passageway Gin each frame element A, the passageways G being axially aligned witheach other. A length B of rod or wire, which is a drive fit in thepassageways, is driven in and the end F of one of the passageways isthen filled up, for example with plastic wood. Said end F need not, ofcourse, be filled up if the article of furniture is to be fullyupholstered. Thus disposed, end portions of the length B of rod or wireare accommodated within the two axially aligned passageways G and acentral or intermediate portion of said length B is left exposed for thepurpose of providing an anchorage for a platform or upholstery supportE. The platform or support E is preferably provided at each of fourcorners with a corner clip D incorporated in said support E duringmoulding and vulcanisation or cure of the elastorneric material fromwhich said support E is formed. A loose hook C is provided for theattachment of each corner clip D to the central or intermediate portionof the respective length B of rod or wire, each clip D being formed withan arcuate locating portion K for the purpose referred to hereinafter.It will be seen from FIGURE 2 that a single plane contains the centresof all sections of the clip D and of the length B of rod or wire.

The angle of drilling may be varied but it is thought that 45 is thebest angle since the stresses are equally spread when the platform isunder load. Also, the drilling could be done before the frame members Aare put together and, moreover, all passageways could extend rightthrough the respective frame members thereby necessitating plugging (asindicated at F in the drawing) at each end of each length B of rod orwire. Such plugging will serve not only an aesthetic purpose but alsothe practical purpose of acting as a detent preventing disengagement byone end of the rod or wire of the relevant passageway.

In the case where the frame elements A form parts of a one-piece tubularmetal frame, it will obviously not be necessary or possible to plug oneend of either passageway G with plastic wood. It might, however, bedesirable in some manner to prevent the length B of rod or wire slidingin the direction of its longitudinal axis, for example by deforming thetube at the position indicated by the reference letter H. This could bedone by placing'a centre punch at that position and striking the punchwith a hammer, thereby deforming the tube radially inwardly.

Referring to FIGURES 3 and 4, the upholstery support E is provided ateach of the four corners thereof with a corner clip L which, in plan, isapproximately triangular. The base M of the triangle makes an angle ofabout 43 with each of the sides N and each side N terminates in aportion P which extends in a direction which is normal or substantiallynormal to the base M and which is also formed at its free end in a hookQ. The two portions P and hooks Q lie adjacent one another, possiblybeing in contact with one another. Further, itwill be seen from FIGURE 4that a single plane contains the centres of all sections of the base M,of the two sides N and of the length B of rod or wire, a second planecontaining the centres of all sections of the portions P being inclinedwith respect to said single plane.

Referring to FIGURES 5 and 6, the upholstery support E is provided ateach of the four corners thereof with a corner clip R which (as with thecorner clip L of FIG- URES' 3 and 4) is approximately triangular in planconfiguration and has a base S, sides T, portions V and hooks W. Thebase S makes an angle of about 43 with each side T and othersimilarities will be apparent from a comparison of FIGURES 5 and 6 withFIGURES 3 and 4. Unlike the embodiment of FIGURES 3 and 4, however, onlythe centres of all sections of the base S and of the length B of rod orwire are contained in a single plane, and a second plane containing thecentres of all sections of the sides T and portions V is inclined withrespect to said single plane.

Referring to FIGURE 7, it will be appreciated that the upholsterysupport E could be provided with a much simplified corner clip X, thehooks of which are formed at the ends of arms Y and Z which areapproximately parallel to one another.

Referring to the drawings generally, all of the embodiments are suchthat, in use, there is not any relative move ment between that part ofthe corner clip which is embedded in or bonded to the elastomericmaterial of which the support E is made on the one hand and the saidelastomeric material which surrounds said part on the other hand. All ofthe corner clips illustrated function satisfactorily from thisstandpoint, deflection of the central part of the upholstery support Edownwardly under load cause ing the corner clips to rotate bodily aboutthe longitudinal axis of the length B of rod or wire. Thus, frictionwill not develop between the corner clips Shown in FIGURES 1 to 7 andthe elastomer in which the clips are embedded or to which the clips arebonded. Friction is developed only between metal parts, namely, betweenthe various lengths B of rod or wire and the hooks in FIGURES 3 to 7 or,in FIGURES 1 and 2, between the various lengths B of rod or wire and thevarious corner clips D on the one hand and the interconnecting hooks Con the other hand.

Further, the employment of the various lengths B of rod or wire willstrengthen a wooden frame for which the present invention has primarilybeen made, although it can also be employed on frames of tubular metal.In a wooden frame, the provision of the lengths B of rod or wire couldwell make it unnecessary to have a wooden gusset at each corner and alsothe parts of the frame would be pulled together not only when theupholstery support E is supporting a load but even when said support isunloaded because it must be remembered that the support is mounted undertension on the frame.

Another advantage stemming from the present invention is that only asimple jig drilling operation is required to provide the hole for eachlength B of rod or wire.

A further advantage obtainable from the employment of the embodiment ofFIGURES 3 to 6 is diagrammatically illustrated in FIGURE "8 in which thechain lines AA depict the upholstery outline. The upholstery could beprovided with so-called flips extending horizontally inwardly towardsthe centre of the upholstery support E, said lips being such as willride over the edges of the support E and corner clips and thereaftereither engage the under-surfaces thereof or be such as to engage theunder-surfaces thereof as a result of movement of the upholstery. Thechain line triangle BB is intended to depict a preformed boss on theupholstery which can either serve merely as a locating device or (ifsuitable made with so-called 'lips) as a combined 10- cating andanchoring device. The so-called lips, with or without the triangularlocating devices or triangular locating/ anchoring devices, will meanthat the upholstery is not only easily detachable for cleaning or thelike but also held on the upholstery support itself. Obviously, theembodiments of FIGURES 3 to 6 are such as to make use of this advantagewith ease, but the other embodiments can also make use of the advantageto a greater or less tions connected to one another by an intermediateportion, the end portions of each of said lengths being located withintwo axially aligned passageways and the intermediate portion of each ofsaid lengths being exposed; an upholstery support consisting of anelastomeric member and a plurality of spaced clip elements, said clipelements being incorporated in said elastomeric member during cure ofthe elastomer; and hooks connecting said intermediate portions of saidlengths to said clip elements.

2. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein said frameelements are separately made and are securely joined to one anotherbefore the axially aligned passageways are formed therein.

3. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein said frameelements are separately made and are securely joined to one anotherafter the passageway has been formed in each frame element.

4. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein said frameelements are, integral with and are not readily separable from oneanother.

5. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein a detent meansis provided at at least one end of each of said length of rod, saiddetent means preventing any amount of axial displacement of said rod orwire such as would result in said lengths of rod disengaging any of saidpassageways.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,110,752 3/1938 Wright 294482,441,858 5/1948 Watter 29-448 3,037,766 6/1962 Berg 267- 3,174,7413/1965 Wolff 26-7l 1Q CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner.

1. AN ARTICLE OF FURNITURE WHICH INCLUDES A PLURALITY OF FRAME ELEMENTSCONNECTED TO ONE ANOTHER IN THE REGION OF THEIR ENDS TO FORM A FRAME;MEANS NEAR EACH END OF EACH FRAME ELEMENT DEFINING A PASSAGEWAY, THEPASSAGEWAYS IN ADJACENT END REGIONS OF ANY TWO OF SAID FRAME ELEMENTSBEING IN AXIAL ALIGNMENT WITH ONE ANOTHER; A PLURALITY OF STRAIGHTLENGTHS OF ROD EACH HAVING END PORTIONS CONNECTED TO ONE ANOTHER BY ANINTERMEDIATE PORTION, THE END PORTIONS OF EACH OF SAID LENGTHS BEINGLOCATED WITHIN TWO AXIALLY ALIGNED PASSAGEWAYS AND THE INTERMEDIATEPORTION OF EACH OF SAID LENGTHS BEING EXPOSED; AN UPHOLSTERY SUPPORTCONSISTING OF AN ELASTOMERIC MEMBER AND A PLURALITY OF SPACED CLIPELEMENTS, SAID CLIP ELEMENTS BEING INCORPORATED IN SAID ELASTOMERICMEMBER DURING CURE OF THE ELASTOMER; AND HOOKS CONNECTING SAIDINTERMEDIATE PORTIONS OF SAID LENGTHS TO SAID CLIP ELEMENTS.